Nicki Minaj’s Mom, NYC Doctor Offers Free Plastic Surgery Services to Domestic Abuse Victims
Carol Maraj said cosmetic surgery can help fix injuries and boost confidence. Howard Schnapp/Newsday
Rapper Nicki Minaj’s mom said Friday she’s teaming up with a popular New York City plastic surgeon to offer domestic violence survivors free plastic surgery.
Carol Maraj, 63 — who runs a domestic abuse foundation and herself is a survivor — said going under the knife can help fix injuries women suffered at the hands of their abusers.
“So often, when [women] finally break free it is with scars, broken bones and disfigurements,” Maraj said at an NAACP-hosted luncheon on Long Island. “We will give these victims a new start that includes helping to restore their physical confidence.”
At the intimate pre-Mother’s Day lunch, cosmetic surgeon Dr. Scott Blyer vowed to work on victims pro-bono with no cap on the price of surgeries.
“A lot of women are embarrassed or ashamed or fearful to go to the hospital,” he said.
“We’re going to be donating our services, all of my surgical fees and so forth will be free of charge for anyone who has the courage to step away from a situation where they were involved with domestic violence.”
He added, “Perhaps a broken nose, a laceration, [is] something where we can help them out.”
Maraj, who founded Carol Maraj Foundation in 2013, also recalled growing up surrounded by harrowing domestic abuse in Trinidad and Tobago.
Nicki Minaj’s mother was a domestic abuse victim, she said.Getty Images
“I saw my father hit my mother in the head with a flashlight and we just moved on like it was nothing. I came to America and realized this is abuse, this is domestic violence, I’ve been living,” she said.
In 2020, Maraj published her memoir “Leaving my Pain,” recounting the abuse she allegedly suffered from the “Starships” rapper’s late father, Robert Maraj.
In it, she describes a frightening attack on Dec. 31, 1989, in which she says he dragged her from her car and unleashed a “rain of blows” to her “head and face.”
“After a while everything felt numb,” she wrote. “I felt blood running down my face, my nose was bleeding and I was in a state of shock from that many hits to my head.”
She ultimately didn’t leave Maraj for another 10 years, escaping only after he checked into a rehab center and ultimately never divorcing him, she said in a 2021 interview with Hollywood Life.
Maraj was killed by hit-and-run driver Charles Polevich while walking along a snowy road on Long Island in February 2021.
Dr. Scott Blyer vowed to work on victims pro-bono with no cap on the price of surgeries.legislatorsamgonzalez/Instagram
On Long Island, more than 9,800 victims reported being abused in 2021, according to New York State Division of Criminal Justice data cited by NAACP.
Overall, more than 35% of women in the US suffer rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.
On Friday, Miraj said she’s also partnering with Sammy Gonzalez of the Suffolk County legislature, and the Islip Chapter of the NAACP on the effort to get domestic abuse survivors surgical help.
The Carol Maraj Foundation is dedicated to ending domestic violence and aims to “advocate, help and restore battered women to a place of wholeness,” according to its website.
